Development Finance has always needed to evolve with the needs of the time, but where is it succeeding or failing?  I am joined by Dalburg’s Kusi Hornberger, author of Scaling Impact and Convergence CEO Joan Larrea to talk about how Development Finance can play a better role in driving impact and how blended finance, in particular, can be a useful tool in getting more projects financed in the developing world.

Elizabeth Robberechts, Chief of Energy and Infrastructure at IDB Invest, joins the podcast this week to talk about how they look at investments and investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean.  She shares how the Inter American Bank’s investment arm is prioritizing climate finance in the region, including investment into climate adaptation, and key sectors and geographies where they would like to invest in going forward.    

The concepts of Web3 and Regenerative Economics is new to many of us, but both can play a key role in addressing climate change.  Anna Lerner, CEO of the Climate Collective, shares how digital technologies will play a transformative role to unlock climate action at scale.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is the political insurance arm of the World Bank Group and provides a number of financial products for project developers working in the toughest environments.  Olga Calabozo Garrido, who leads MIGA’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean, shares how they evaluate and price risk in the region and how they add value to private investors who are keen to invest in climate focus projects. 

Accessing climate financing at scale can prove challenging because of a lack of track record or visibility to attract the right investors. Ian Callaghan, originator of the Climate Finance Accelerator concept, explains how the Climate Finance Accelerator looks to address this ‘missing middle’ through country specific programs and developing a sustainable pipeline of bankable, low-carbon projects. Learn about the Climate Finance Accelerator, funded by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy...

Don Purka, Principal Investment Officer for Energy at IFC, describes how IFC's shift to investing "upstream" in emerging markets to address the market conditions that have hindered investments in the past. We talk about energy investments in Africa and the role that IFC has played in catalyzing industries that have crowded in other investors.  

What is Britain doing to address international climate change?  Geoff Manley, from the newly minted British International Investment, talk about the development finance institution’s approach to investment and how Britain is approaching international climate investing.

What is FinDev Canada and what does it do?  Since its inception a few years ago, FinDev Canada has been committed to making impactful investments in Africa and Latin America.   Lori Kerr, CEO of FinDev Canada, joins the podcast to share priority areas for the organization and what they aim to build in the years to come.  

The US DFC is a relatively new Development Finance Institution since it evolved from its predecessor, OPIC.  This has meant a greater emphasis on climate, a wider range of financial instruments at their disposal (such as equity and TA) and presents new opportunities for project developers.  Nadia Khawar, Director for Business Development in the Office of Structured Finance and Insurance at DFC, shares how DFC operates, where it is keen to invest and how they can work with Canadian projects in...

Why is Natural Capital investing so important?  IDB’s Natural Capital Lab lead Greg Watson shares the priorities of the IDB around investing into nature based solutions and the financial instruments they support to make NBS investing a reality.

The Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) is truly a unique Crown corporation that allows Canadian companies to compete for government-to-government contracts by putting Canada behind its industry and exporters.  Antony Rizk explains how they get this done with the care it deserves and how they make Canada competitive.     

IDB Lab’s is a unique entity within the DFI community because of the early stage investments they can make.  Anita Fiori leads IDB Lab’s venture capital and direct loans operations and shares how they are making catalytic investments in the region.   

We’re back in the Netherlands, this time with the Dutch Financial Institution, FMO. A user of blended finance before it was known as blended finance, FMO has a lot of experience in leveraging private capital. Floor van Oppen explains how through the lens of climate action.   

Ambassador Patricia Fuller is Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change and was a member of Canada’ delegation to COP26 in Glasgow.  She shares her impressions of COP and outlines Canada’s contributions to COP26 and climate change and how climate financing will be deployed.  

In the final episode for 2021, Faheem and Rachel reflect on the conversation with Ambassador Fuller and share more information that came out of COP26 and from the MDBs on climate investing.     

Climate Fund Managers is about to launch their second fund focused on water, oceans and sanitation. In this episode, Darren Moens explains to Rachel Soares (Climate Finance Trade Commissioner for Europe) how this Dutch-based climate fund mobilises private and public sector capital, and is looking for water/wastewater/waste project developers.

What is the role of IFC Treasury and how does it work with Financial Institution to advance Climate objectives?  This week we are joined by IFC’s Head of Industrial Relations, Esohe Denise Odaro, who describes how the IFC Treasury function works and how they incentivized financial institutions to reach ESG objectives.  Denise also is the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Green, Social and Sustainability-Linked Bonds Principles hosted by the International Capital Markets...

In this episode, we welcome back Alexa Blain, co-founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact. She follows up on her Climate Finance Roundtable Discussion (Episode 9) and shares her experience on building a pipeline of projects to invest in and how they have partnered with DFIs, such as IDB Lab. 

 La spécialiste principal de l'hydrogène à la Banque interaméricaine de développement parle de l'hydrogène comme source d'énergie renouvelable. Michelle Hallack dirige l'équipe de l’Énergie et de la recherche sur l’hydrogène à la BID en s'appuyant sur sa solide expérience universitaire et professionnelle des 15 dernières années.

The InterAmerican Development Bank's Senior Specialist on Hydrogen joins the podcast this week to talk about hydrogen as a renewable energy source.  Michelle Hallack leads IDB's Energy Team on Hydrogen research, drawing from her strong academic and professional experience over the last 15 years,

The European Bank for reconstruction and development has made aggressive Climate Finance commitments. In this special episode, Climate Finance Trade Commissioner for Europe Rachel Soares interviews Vincent Duijnhouwer to talk about how the EBRD is approaching global climate finance. 

La Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement (BERD) a pris des engagements majeurs en matière de financement climatique. Dans cet épisode, la Déléguée commerciale en développement des affaires pour le financement climatique Line Poulin-Larivière rencontre Vincent Duijnhouwer pour comprendre l’approche de la BERD dans ce secteur.  

The second session of the Climate Finance Roundtable on May 25th has Paulo Martelli (FinDev Canada) and Christian Wray (JCM Power) switching roles from the first session and they are joined by Alexa Blain (Deetken Impact) to talk about the supply of capital in climate finance. In this session, these two Canadian firms share their experiences working with DFIs and provide best practices on how to develop strong relationships with these investors. 

Blended Finance plays a critical role in helping bridge the gap between the supply and demand of finance in climate project finance. Chris Clubb (Convergence Finance) moderates a critical discussion between blended finance thought leaders Kruskaia Sierra-Escalante, Matthieu Pegon (IDB Invest) and Robert Probyn (FCDO/UK) as a part of the Climate Finance Roundtable on May 26th. In this session, they share the catalytic role blended finance can play in making projects investable and provide...